Tips for Picking the Right Wedding Venue

A huge thank you to Kelsey Motes-Conners from Glacier Park Weddings for today’s post. As a bride who recently got married, this post is an absolute gold mine for anyone planning a wedding.

Photo by Ryan Flynn Photography

Choosing a setting for your wedding is often one of the first and biggest items to check off your wedding-planning list, and for good reason: the venue lends atmosphere to your event and becomes the aesthetic foundation on which the rest of your style decisions are built. What’s more, your venue’s availability will often dictate your wedding date and, by extension, your bookings with other vendors. So here are a few tips to keep in mind during your hunt for the perfect venue:

Style

As you research and tour different venues, keep your vision for your wedding in mind. Pay attention to the look and feel of the place, and whether you can see it complimenting your style. Consider choosing a lovely, well-cared-for space that is also flexible, neutral and customizable–a blank canvas for you to make your own (You’d hate to get three months into planning, change your color scheme entirely and then be bummed about the way your dream flowers will clash with the red drapes at your venue).

Photo by Alicia Brown Photography

Vendor flexibility

Ask whether you’ll be able to choose your own vendors, or if the venue will require you to work with specific caterers, cake bakers, bars, etc. Consider choosing a venue that can provide recommendations as to reputable or ‘preferred’ vendors, but will still allow you to make the final choice about who you’ll work with.

Photo by Alicia Brown Photography

One venue

Your event will flow more effortlessly, and your guests will likely be more relaxed, if the ceremony and reception are at the same venue. Look for a venue that has separate spaces available for the ceremony and reception, though, to keep the event lively and interesting for your guests.

Photo by Alicia Brown Photography

Outdoor amenities

If you are in love with the idea of an outdoor wedding, choose a venue that can provide the necessary amenities (water, electricity, restrooms and some kind of shelter) to avoid the added stress and expense of trucking in generators and water tanks, renting tents and portable restrooms. Simplicity is key!

Photo by Ryan Flynn Photography

Staff and services

A professional and accommodating venue staff can go a long way in taking the stress out of your big day. A venue with a designated events manager will likely provide all kinds of helpful services, coordination packages and more, and you’ll have a contact person for questions during the planning process.

Photo by Latasha Haynes Photography

Destination weddings

For a destination wedding, work with a venue that can also provide lodging, activities, gathering places and transportation for your guests. Not only will all of your guests be in worry-free vacation mode, but you will also be relieved of making sure everyone is entertained and taken care of.

Photo by Ryan Flynn Photography

Budget

Ask for a detailed description of what is included in the rental of the venue; Knowing what you’ll have to provide versus what will be provided by the venue will help you determine how it will all fit into your budget. Keep in mind that some venues also come along with food and beverage minimums that should be figured into your budget as well.

Most importantly…

Make sure both of you agree that the venue feels like the right place for your celebration!

Thanks again Kelsey! This post is very “shareworthy,” I’m sure we’ll see it pop up on Twitter and Facebook this week. :) To learn more about Glacier Park visit them on WeddingVenueLove.

Nice post.Everyone wants their
wedding venue to be wonderful, and of course which couple will not? Once you relish
the ecstasy of getting engaged to the person you love, there is loads of
planning for the next big thing going to happen in your life and with a perfect wedding venue you can enjoy the privacy you just need.If you want some exclusive package you can check out http://tattersallscountryhouse.ie/ which is a great place to look for newely weds.

Thanks

Joshua Hayden

Venue for any party or wedding should be special and amazing.It is most important decision which event manger have to take carefully. So that everyone feel comfortable and according to occasion.

Bell brown

Nice post,your blog provided a great information about the wedding.venue for wedding is the important decision for planning other things according to venue.Thanks for sharing great wedding venue tips.

Wedding reception decorations

tjoshef

Having a perfect place for your wedding add more delight to yournmarriage. People should keep the above points in mind while choosingna wedding venue for their marriage.nnttwedding venues in Nottingham

Stefan Salvatore

Awesome tips to to Picking a right wedding venue because it is one of the most important day in the life of every couple. So , it need to be celebrated at a special place..nKauai Wedding packages

Finding the ideal venue for our wedding was quite a task. We visited quite a few different venues in San Jose , however, Club Auto Sport topped them all. The venue is unique, the ambience was perfect and everything went as planned. We had a fantastic time and our guests were very impressed!! You should visit their website clubautosport.net/event-center/weddings/ (408.770.1200), I highly recommend them to anyone looking for the perfect venue for their wedding. It would definitely be a memorable event!

Choosing a wedding venue is a big deal.When choosing a location, itu2019s also important to consider how that will play in to the overall cost.Cost is obviously key determining factor when planning a wedding.There are so many spectacularly unusual west yorkshire luxury wedding venue.

Katy

I was working with the author of this post on planning my wedding. She forgot to mention trust, competency and honesty of the people running the venue you select. We were working with her for our wedding at Great Northern Resort. I received a contract from Kelsey and spoke with her to let her know I was considering both July 2 and July 3 for our wedding. She replied, “u200bNo problem. We wouldn’t book anything else that weekend” I signed the contract and confirmed our now set plans with my friends and family. TWO days after being told they would not book anything else that weekend, I got an email from Kelsey telling me that someone else booked 4 out of 5 chalets at the venue (The Great Northern Resort) on the 3rd but that she still had one on hold for me and we could have our wedding until 10pm if we chose that day. She said we could have the cabins from the 30th- the 2nd even though our previous communication made it clear we were interested in the holiday weekend. Her excuse was 90% of people want Thurs-Saturday reserved and did not think at all about it being a holiday weekend (4th of July on Monday) or ask any questions (even though she shouldn’t need to because I had been clear we were considering the 3rd for our wedding). Also please note all of there materials for Glacier Park Weddings state that the $7,250 fee includes “restrooms” but you do not learn until you get the contract that these are PORTA POTTIES. With this price you also can only talk to Kelsey twice for an hour or less before the week of your wedding or she will charge you by the half hour. When I questioned why the rental agreement that I signed wasn’t being honored she said “that the block “may” be held until February 1″ and “this is in no way a guarantee of availability”. If you want you and your family to stay at the venue you “may” want to consider another place because even after signing an agreement they “may” let other people book your reserved Chalets. Hopefully my experience will give you a few other important things to consider when picking a venue. I hope no one else has to experience the stress and disappointment that I had to deal with thanks to the Great Northern Resort. I did cancel my wedding and due to the time I wasted with Great Northern Resort it will be delayed a year.

Jonathan

Picking the perfect wedding venue is tricky – In my opinion the historical background of the wedding venue was key in my decision and it was quite easy for me I guess, as I really wanted a castle wedding venue near my home town of Shrewsbury. I think if you love the venue when you first view it – then you should go with your gut decision!!